Fortunately, we have some good precedents to follow: The Ig Nobel Prizes, announced in September, included some choice slices of scientific weirdness — and we've included one of the Ig-winners on our 30-choice menu (the one about the slime mold). The aim of the Ig Nobels, administered by Marc Abrahams of the Annals of Improbable Research, is to recognize "research that makes people laugh and then think." That's a fine criterion for our Weirdies as well. But you could also consider scientific tales that make you laugh, and then make you ask, "What were they thinking?"

Other criteria include things that make you go "Ewww," such as the story about crickets with huge testicles ... or make you go "Auugh," such as the chicken-or-egg study ... or make you go "Hmmm" and reflect upon the foibles of human or animal nature, such as the tale of the chimp who was forced to stop smoking. (That's a double-header selection, as you'll see below.)

In any case, it's up to you to decide which of these 30 stories win the Weirdie laurels in 2011. Choose your favorite candidate on the long ballot at right, and the 10 top vote-getters will be honored in a roundup published after the first of the year. Here's the list, arranged in chronological order from January to December:

Feel free to leave a comment below if you want to cast a write-in vote for some other slice of scientific weirdness from the last year — or if you just want to reflect on the weirdness (or non-weirdness) in the world around us.